McPherson College Football

I volunteer as a sports photographer for McPherson College. McPherson is a NAIA-affiliated school with an enrollment of about 600 students located in McPherson, Kansas. Their athletics teams are known as the Bulldogs and the Lady Bulldogs. This weekend was Homecoming Weekend. The weather was beautiful for the participants and for photography. The following photos are from the football game. The Bulldogs were taking on the Univ. of St. Mary Spires from Leavenworth, KS in KCAC conference play. Coming into the game the Bulldogs were 4-0 and ranked #7 in the country. The Spires were 0-4.

Junior DB Thomas Stauts avoids the USM tackler and celebrates a 31-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter of the Bulldog-Spires contest.

Junior WR Andy Skinner pulls in a pass reception versus the Spires despite the efforts of the USM defender

Junior DB Ronnie Miller puts a solid hit on USM receiver Fred Edison

The final score of the game was 73 - 24 McPherson. Fifteen different members of the team had carries or receptions on offense. On defense 34 members of the team participated in tackles against the Spires.

It was a good weekend for the Cross Country squads as well. Hosting their home meet, the Lakeside Shootout, the men's event was won by McPherson runner Javier Ceja and the Men's squad placed first just ahead of Fort Hays State. On the Women's side the Lady Bulldogs placed third, with freshmen runners Kelsi Beam and Payton Hartman finishing 6th and 8th respectively.

The football images were taken with a Nikon D90, 70-200mm f/2.8, TC14 II. Post-processing was done in ACR 6 and Photoshop CS5.

Sports Shooting - McPherson Basketball vs. Univ. of St. Marys

Saturday evening we attended the McPherson College vs. University of St. Mary basketball games at the USM  gym in Leavenworth, KS.  The Bulldog Men carried the evening to move to a 13-2 overall record and a 6-0 record in the KCAC. The Bulldogs have been receiving votes, but have not yet made the NAIA Division II Top 25.

The Bulldogs quickly jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first half.  Sophomore G Aaron Frazier bucketed 13 points to lead the Mac men to a 45-38 half time lead.

The Spires continued to battle the Bulldogs in the second half.  A 22-6 run by USM pulled them to within four with under a minute left in the game.   McPherson went on to force several turnovers and hit 6 of 6 free throws to keep the lead and the win 100-94.  Senior guard Mike Reese scored 27 to lead the Bulldogs over the Spires.

Shooting in this gym is very difficult.  There is a 2.5 stop difference in the lighting between mid-court and the baseline area under the baskets.  The lighting is a mix of traditional incandesent, high intensity vapor, and fluoresent.  Takes a lot of adjustment!



The images were shot in NEF. They were first processed through DxO for exposure (0.5 to 1.25 stops), tint (taking out the green effect of the fluoresents) and noise, saved as JPG. Cropping and final color adjustments were done in Capture NX2.

Sport Shooting - McPherson Bulldog Football vs. Univ. of St. Mary

McPherson College traveled to Leavenworth, KS to meet the University of St. Mary Spires in a KCAC Conference football game.

The Bulldogs were dominant from the beginning, holding the Spires to three-and-out following the opening kickoff. McPherson then took the ball 68 yards in five plays to score the first touchdown of the game. For the day the Bulldogs would never trail in the score.

The defense had one of their best days of the season. The Bulldog defenders held the Spires offense in check in the first half with two three-and-outs, three interceptions and a fumble recovery. All the USM turnovers resulted in McPherson touchdowns.

The first half ended 51-0 in favor of the McPherson College Bulldogs. The final score was 58-13 McPherson.